How to Do Everything*

When you can’t really do it all

I realized that I tend to struggle with the passage of time. As days go by, I increasingly feel the sense that there isn’t enough time for anything. A friend recently recommended I watch an anime called Frieren. It is a fantasy story about an elf who outlives her human companions and dives into concepts about the passage of time and taking life in, cherishing the simple moments. The irony in it was that when I decided to sit and watch it, I felt an internal sense that I was wasting my time. The time I spend watching the episode of Frieren is time that I could be doing something else; anything else. The problem I find is that it is the case for everything. The time I spend practicing drawing is time spent not making music, or cooking, or writing. The result of this feeling is often inaction. There are too many options, so I short-circuit and end up doing nothing. I start to wonder: with all the things I do, how can I do everything?

This is a newsletter about doing too much

I often get restless while doing activities. I tend not to listen to songs the entire way through. I get to points in books where I just want to skip to the last page. Why? Because there is another activity, a song and a book to check out. My tendency is to gather a wide range of knowledge, but I lack the patience (at times) to improve the depth of that knowledge. In my experience with Frieren, I convinced myself that it was beneficial to have a moment where I sit and focus on the story in front of me, relinquishing the urge to “make the most of my time” by multitasking. The feeling was cathartic. I was able to experience the story undistracted, taking it in, thinking about it. I watched a single episode and stopped, moving on to something else. Time passed, but it wasn’t all gone—there was still enough remaining.

One thing at a time

For everything that I am proficient in now, I can point to a particular time in my life when each thing had my attention. They tended not to be at the same time. I heard a long time ago that multitasking is a myth; that when we think we are doing two things at once, our brains are just jumping back and forth from one thing to the other, yielding subpar results. I have experienced this to be true, especially in terms of output. As someone who often feels like there isn’t enough time, multitasking sounds like a dream. It’s just that reality has shown me that a dream is a dream.

Like trying to listen to two conversations at the same time, I notice the interruptions in my output when I stack to the point where I don’t hear anything. That leads me to suggest that a solution is to take things one at a time. This is incredibly challenging for me. It requires that I reject the scarcity mindset when it comes to the passing of time. There is enough time, and everything has its time.

I notice how in flow state, I tend to lose track of time. When I am fully immersed in a practice, an experience, an activity, or even a conversation, time goes by and I hardly notice. It suggests that an excessive awareness of time counters the depth of an experience. It’s hard to pay attention to a conversation when my eye is on the clock, and my mind is on every other thing I could be doing. It is better to allow the time to pass, knowing that you are in the moment, experiencing it completely. It’s the same for creative practices. I need to allow myself to get lost in the work sometimes, the outcome is often better.

I can accept that I can’t do everything all the time

How to do everything?

• Do everything mindfully—pay attention

• Take your time with the things you do

• Do things one at a time

• Accept that you can’t do everything all the time

• Do things well

How do you balance all the things you do?

---

Some things I’m enjoying lately:

• As I mentioned in today’s article, I’ve been watching Frieren. It is a very good story that breaks away from the usual hero’s journey model.

  

• I’ve recently been playing Pokémon on the Nintendo DS. It’s nostalgia, but it’s also a very well-made game, so I have to give that credit.

• I’m still making playlists. Curating music is just something I genuinely enjoy.

• Making beats again!